Investors including hgih-net-worth individuals, family offices, and registered investment advisors have backed a venture capital fund from Fidelity Investments.
The firm has today (Oct. 2) announced the final close of its Fidelity Venture Capital Fund I LP which has raised $250 million of committed capital to meet its target four months after it opened to investors.
The fund will mostly make minority investments in mid-to-late-stage private companies, globally and across sectors, although there will be a strong focus on US firms and those in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.
So far, the fund has invested around $31 million in ten companies in industries including aerospace, defense, artificial intelligence, data and e-commerce.
Despite some challenging times for the venture capital market globally, artificial intelligence has been one of the drivers of a resurgence for the domestic market with US venture capitalists spending $55.6 billion backing startups in the second quarter of 2024, up by about half from a year earlier quarter and the spendiest quarter in two years, according to PitchBook data.
Fidelity Investments has been investing in private companies for 15 years with a total of more than $28 billion in capital deployed on behalf of its suite of mutual funds. The firm has made more than 600 investments in over 350 firms.
Karin Fronczke, portfolio manager & global head of Private Equity at Fidelity Investments, says that the latest successful fundraise is testament to the firm’s reputation in private company investments.
“What sets Fidelity apart is our experienced investment team, our access to private companies, our deep global research capabilities, and our ability to help support companies through their lifecycle,” said Fronczke.
Fidelity’s range of alternative investments includes 50 funds including three actively managed liquid alts ETFs that were launched this year, building on its 2022 launch of three liquid alts mutual funds.
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